Second fatal Portland police shooting renews question of why it takes so long to interview officer involved

Torsten KjellstrandPolice Chief Rosie Sizer listens to Detective Mary Wheat describe the fatal police shooting that occurred 20 hours before in the Hoyt Arboretum. The second Portland police fatal shooting in two months led to renewed questions Tuesday about the time it takes detectives to interview officers involved, and criticism of the time that passed before the Portland Police Bureau answered basic questions about the incident.

Officer Jason Walters responded on his own to a call about a drunken transient harassing people at Washington Park's Hoyt Arboretum Monday afternoon and, three minutes later, shot the man four times. Police say the man emerged from a restroom with blood on his face and advanced toward the officer with a razor-type blade.

The 58-year-old man bled to death after a bullet entered his hip and struck a major artery, an autopsy found. Police have not released his name as they work to notify his next of kin.

The shots shattered a serene day of hiking for visitors to the popular park, and prompted two nights of protests and marches against police violence. It also spurred Police Chief Rosie Sizer to address the media on her first day back to work after a 10-day trip to England.

"We understand fatal police shootings are always of concern to the community, and we are working hard to get you information in a timely and accurate manner," Sizer said, speaking at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, about 20 hours after the shooting. "I am thankful Officer Walters was there to protect the community in a location that is deeply loved and much visited... A fatal shooting is never the outcome either our members or the community desires. However, nobody else died. The community is safe, and the officer is safe."

As of Tuesday night, more than 24 hours after the fatal shooting, the police bureau still had not scheduled a time to interview Walters. "It's when the attorney agrees to the interview," Detective Mary Wheat said. Police union President Sgt. Scott Westerman said the officer's attorney arranges with detectives when an interview will be held. "Remember, it's a voluntary interview," Westerman said.

Yet Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman called on the bureau to interview officers involved in shootings "quicker and sooner." He also urged to have the grand jury transcripts of the shooting be made public, like he did in the Jan. 29 fatal police shooting of Aaron M. Campbell.

Nearly seven years ago, outside consultants from the Los Angeles-based Police Assessment Resource Center criticized the bureau for not conducting contemporaneous interviews with officers in shootings. Their 2003 report said the bureau erroneously believed there was a union-negotiated three-day waiting rule, and recommended the bureau strive to do same-day interviews "to ease doubts about officer collusion, and place officers and civilians on the same footing."

In a 2005 report, the consultants said the bureau had made improvements, but still found even a 24-hour delay in interviewing officers unacceptable.

The bureau first released details of the shooting at 10:27 a.m. Tuesday, after the union president had already briefed reporters. Wheat said police must wait until detectives interview witnesses. "We've released information as quickly as we have it," she said.

The incident began when Hoyt Arboretum staff called 9-1-1 at 3:05 p.m. to report a drunk transient harassing and yelling at passersby. The caller said the man had threatened a female, but didn't have specifics. The dispatcher noted the transient was "not physically violent," and was last seen in the parking lot, wearing a green jacket, tan-hooded sweater and jeans, and holding a plastic bag.

The dispatcher advised the staff to call back if the man became violent.

Lisa Turley, director of Portland's Bureau of Emergency Communications, said dispatchers did not send an officer, noting that the caller did not have specific information or immediate sight of the suspect.

Walters, 36, a 13-year bureau veteran and Central Precinct officer, alerted dispatch at 3:15 p.m. he was going to respond on his own. At 3:18 p.m., the dispatcher sent Hooper Detox's Chiers van to assist.

Walters arrived at the visitor center at 3:24 p.m. Matt Sinclair, executive director of Hoyt Arboretum Friends, was at his office in the center. He said staff had seen the transient come down one of the trails to the parking lot, and enter the outdoor restroom closest to the visitor center's front doors. Staff met Walters outside the visitor center and told him the man was in the outdoor restroom, Sinclair said.

Sinclair then ushered five staff members, one volunteer and a couple of visitors into a back room of the visitor's center to keep them safe.

According to the police bureau, the transient, who came out of the restroom with blood on his hands, face and neck, came at the officer with the knife, refusing repeated commands to drop it. Walters retreated, but the man continued after him with the knife.

Westerman described the incident as a "low priority, nothing call" that turned violent when the transient came out of the restroom, surprising Walters. Westerman said the officer was just walking up to the center to talk to staff, and "this man comes popping out of a bathroom and charging at him."

Nicholas Ciccotelli, 20, of Wilsonville, said he had just picked up a map from the visitor center and started to walk through the parking lot with his friends when he heard yelling, "Put the knife down! Get down! Get down!"

He heard two pops. "We were like 'That didn't just happen. No,'" he recalled. "We thought the gunshots were fake. It might be like a training thing." They continued along a trail and heard two more shots.

Andrea Leckey, 38, of Portland, hiking with her two children, Noah, 12, and Natalie, 13, were coming down the trail, back towards the lot. "I heard two gunshots, and I heard two more," Leckey said. "I just stopped and told my kids 'Stop. Don't move.' "

But then the whirl of police sirens quickly convinced them the shots were real. Leckey headed to her car in the arboretum lot. As she hurried her children past the visitor center, Leckey said she spotted a man on the ground. "He was on his left side, facing away from us," she said.

"You don't expect something like that to happen in a relatively serene area," she said. "What really startled me was... we had just been standing there moments before. What if my kids had had to use the restroom and we were right there? I know my kids will never feel the same going back there."

The transient collapsed in front of the center. A knife similar to an X-Acto knife, with a short blade and 6-inch handle, fell to the ground. The man was pronounced dead at 3:27 p.m. An autopsy showed he had three wounds to his arms and right side, and one to his hip. He also had self-inflicted cuts on his neck. A full toxicology screen will be done.

Westerman defended the shooting, saying the officer acted as trained and didn't have a chance to use his Taser. He said Walters didn't have "lethal cover" to fire his Taser. "It's not 100 percent effective, and what happens if it doesn't work? He gets sliced. Our training is what helps keep us alive."

Steve Mattsson, manager of Hooper Detox, said the Chiers van picks up thousands of drunken people a year. "They respond to 3,000 clients a year safely, and that's what they're there for," he said.

The visitor center, closed Tuesday, will reopen today. Portland police said they do get reports of transients in the arboretum. In the last year, police responded to only three welfare checks, one noise disturbance and one unwanted-person report within a 200-foot radius of the arboretum's visitor center.

"We're certainly deeply saddened by the loss of life that occurred here," Sinclair said "We really want to encourage people that the arboretum is very safe and a remarkable place to visit."